Nottingham Forest 2-1 Birmingham City

Joe Lolley's early strike was his second goal in two games for Nottingham Forest

Joe Lolley and Matty Cash scored for the second game in a row as Nottingham Forest earned back-to-back league wins and consigned Birmingham City to a fifth consecutive Championship defeat.

Lolley put Forest ahead on five minutes with a low strike after a slick move.

Blues had chances to level, notably through Maikel Kieftenbeld, who blazed an effort over from 15 yards.

Cash's low second-half strike ensured a victory which was in question after Michael Morrison's late header.

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Morrison's effort from a Craig Gardner corner at least saw Blues find the net after four games without a goal.

But it did little to ease the pressure on under-fire boss Steve Cotterill, who this week met with Hong Kong-based chairman Zhao Wenqing.

Forest began brightly following the thumping 5-2 win at QPR last week - a victory which saw them score as many goals as they had managed in their previous 12 Championship matches.

Lolley's early strike squirmed through keeper David Stockdale after a slick move involving Ben Watson, Jack Colback and Lee Tomlin and suggested a comfortable home win.

But it was Forest's only effort on target before the break and Kieftenbeld, Harlee Dean and Che Adams all wasted good opportunities for Blues.

Lukas Jutkiewicz twice went close in the second half, keeper Costel Pantilimon making decent saves.

But Cash converted the second from Lolley's pass and Aitor Karanka was able to celebrate a first home win in five matches as boss despite Morrison's header.

Nottingham Forest boss manager Aitor Karanka:

"I want to say is to thank everyone in the club, because I know how hard they have been working to get the game on today. The effort they put in has been amazing.

"I also want to say thank you to our crowd. Because it would have been easy for them to stay at home on days like today.

"But they supported us in difficult conditions and helped us to get a good win. It was not the best performance or the best game, but we have another three points.

"We knew we were in a good moment, in a good run. We knew also they were not in a good run and we wanted to try to take advantage of that."

Birmingham City manager Steve Cotterill told BBC WM:

"We were good enough to get something out of today's game. I think we were the better team and I don't think there was much between the two sides.

"We gave away a sloppy goal first of all, which always makes it a mountain to climb as we know we haven't been free-scoring.

"But we've created enough chances today to have won that game."